Today

Today Justin strolled along the Nile and visited the bazaar area.

Today I had a mild stomach virus.

Sunday Sneak Peek

Egypt

Justin is in Egypt.  He just left today and the kids are already excited to see what he will bring back for them. 

I just hope he doesn't bring back a gunshot wound! 

That's not nearly as fun as Cheetos!

Up the Coast

(Still going through some pictures from awhile back and making sure I write a proper post for them.  We took this day trip in January.)

Praise the Lord, after 3 and a half years slummin' it out on the bus, we bought a car.

Hallelujah!!!

My dear husband and his wonderful parents worked really hard to get things in place so that he could buy a car for us before he left for his month long trip to London and the States.  He got it just a few days before he left.  Having him gone for a month was hard, but having a car sure did smooth things over a bit!

It is such a blessing!!

The weekend just before he left we went on our first family drive in our new (to us) car.  There are so many beautiful places that are relatively close to us, but impossible to get to with public transport.  So we sort of drove up north to the coast and worked our way back down along the coastline.  We finally go to see some of the sights that we had been reading about in our guidebooks.

Here are some photos from the day...

The Leonard-Moblie!!!

Shakin' Bacon

Just had an earthquake.  It was mild- just barely felt the shakin'.

We were laying here in bed watching some food show about bacon (the embarrassing truth) on the computer when I sort of felt a bit dizzy.  I looked up from the computer to my jewelry holder and saw my earrings dangling back and forth.  I'm not dizzy... it's an earthquake.

Justin realized it at the same time.  We laid there swaying for about a half a minute.  It's such a wierd sensation!

I knew bacon was fantastic, but never imagined it was good enough to make the earth shake!

2 Very Different Things

#1- Justin brought Cheetos back from Thailand.  What can I say?  Cheetos and JIF peanut butter are the nectar of the gods.  I would not want to be stranded on a desert island (or in a giant city) without them.  Sweet mercy, Cheetos are delicious!

#2- While visiting with my neighbor today, she told me that it is a sin not to have clean (shaved) armpits and... ahem... privates.  When I asked why, she told me that that is where Satan hides.  I always thought Satan hid in the unfinished part of our old basement growing up, but I guess when he needs to leave the basement he goes straight to some poor schmuck's armpit.  Who knew?

Weddin'

So, I'm still going through my pictures and wanted to show you some pictures from a traditional wedding.

One of the teachers from Lucy's preschool got married last fall.  It seems like everyone and their brother are invited to weddings.  In fact, I have had several friends that have invited me (word of mouth, of course) to a friend/ neighbor/ or relative's wedding.  It seems like anyone can turn up and its no problem!

Just so you know, the actual wedding is typically a very small religious ceremony that basically consists of signing a contract and maybe saying a prayer or saying some vows.  The groom and his entourage goes tot he bride's home to do this.  Then later on in the evening they have a big reception.

Noah had no interest in going.  Since the teacher is covered (wears a headscarf) we figured that the wedding would probably be very traditional.  That means that men and women would be separated.  SInce we only knew the women from Lucy's school Justin did not want to sit in a room full of men that he didn't know, so he and Noah stayed home.

It turned into a Girls' Night Out!

Getting ready.

Callie and Lucy with hot rollers in their hair.

Just a dab of makeup.

Sisters

The Leonard ladies are fixed up and ready.

We were shocked to find that the wedding was not nearly as traditional as we thought it would be.

(Sorry!  My pictures didn't turn out all that great.  You weren't supposed to take pictures in the reception hall, so I had to try to be stealthy.)

Men and women were in the same room and they even had dancing.

Lucy didn't even recognize her teacher because she did not have her head covered.

We had to keep trying to convince her that the bride really was Mehtap.

They brought out this elaborate cake stand with several (obviously) fake cakes and then a real one on the bottom.  

The bride and groom always cut the cake with a sword.

After they cut the cake and it was wheeled away they pass out pieces of cake and Coke or Fanta to all the guests.

During this time the guests all line up and pin money or gold on the bride and groom.

The girls and I stopped at the gold shop on the way and bought a little piece of gold to pin on.

It is sort of like a receiving line.

You can also get you picture taken with the bride and groom (and buy it later).

I snuck this one of all the teachers from Lucy's preschool with the bride and groom.

Traditional line dance.

I love this dance it is so fun!

The reception hall looked like it was straight from that movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

It was fancy with a tinge of big, bold, and tacky.  I loved it!

Holiday

Today is the Youth and Sports Holiday.  The holiday last month celebrated children.  This one celebrates youth... and sports.

Clever name, eh?

No work for Justin, no school for the kids!

What sort of crazy adventure should we go on?

The Circus

So, I am going through my photo files, and I realized that I never did a proper post on our circus adventure.  Yall, the thing about not living in America is that there is hardly any litigation here.  So everything is a bit more on the edge- more dangerous, but definitely more fun!  The same holds true with the circus.

I don't know where this circus originated from, but I don't think it was from here.  There were all sorts of Europeans, Soviets, and Slavs.  It was in the parking lot of the big market across the road from us.  For days everyone in our area watched them set up and the anticipation grew like wildfire.

A dear friend gave us some Christmas money, so we decided to see the circus on New Year's Day and let Noah and Callie each invite a friend.   The circus tent was so big on the outside, but once we were inside it felt sort of small.  Meaning we were right up close to the action!

We walked in, found our seats, and immediately saw this.

This dude was walking around the crowd with a baby lion.

It was beautiful.  You could pet it and get your picture taken with it.

Noah and his best friend Emirhan.

Callie (sporting her sequined beret) with her best friend Ceyda and Lucy.

Justin even sprung for carny-food!

Popcorn!

Lucy was so excited about the circus.  She LOVES animals.

The horse trainer had the horses stand right up on the little barrier between the audience and the performance ring.

They were so close and so beautiful.

This couple did some sort of ariel dance.  It was really pretty.

The dogs.  Actually, they weren't all that well trained.

But, that made them more fun to watch.  They were awfully cute!

Yall, when it was time for the tigers to come out all they did was drop dow this netting.  Anyone could have reached right through that net and pulled the tiger's tail!  If I had been on the front row I would have.  Watching them perform, it was obvious that those cats are super strong.  That net wouldn't have even slowed an angry tiger down!

Now, I hate birds.  I do not like to see them or be near them.  But this man and his birds were so endearing.  He loved them so much.  He talked to them, kissed them, and treated them so kindly.

This is sort of hard to make out.  But its a monkey walking around the ring.

Posing in front of the big top.

After the circus we took the kids to lunch at McDonald's.  Our guests said they liked the food, but I think they were just being polite!

We had such a good time at the circus.  We were right up in the action and it was so fun to see all the animals.  After we ate lunch we walked around behind the circus tent to see the animal trailers.  The next show was about to start so some of the workers brought one of the beautiful white horses over close to the fence for the kids to see and pet.  Lucy was in heaven!  It was such a special treat and a great day!